According to a recent announcement, the Associated Press will be launching a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace for collectors. In this up-and-coming market, interested collectors can purchase tokenized versions of photographs directly from the renowned global news platform.
The initial NFT collection will feature photographs of various interesting subjects such as space, climate, and war from photojournalists within the Associated Press. The collection will be released to the general public over a couple of weeks, with the starting date being January 31. The official marketplace’s website states that the pieces will have varying prices.
The news platform will be minting the photos into NFTs on Polygon, an Ethereum layer-2 scaling network. Secondary transactions using debit or credit cards will also be supported, including Ethereum payments.
Xooa is tasked with creating the NFT marketplace. For the unfamiliar, this is a blockchain infrastructure platform that’s known for specializing in creating “white-label NFT marketplaces for brands and IP owners.”
Zach Danker-Feldman, Xooa’s head of marketplaces, stated that this newfound partnership would act as a “powerful connection” between the virtual or digital world and the actual world we live in. The popular crypto wallet provider Metamask will also be supported, and collaborations with other platforms such as Fortmatic, Binance, and Coinbase can be expected in the future.
NFT holders can expect various additional upcoming features, including the ability to withdraw to other markets, social media functionality, off-chain benefits, and a lot more. Once every two weeks, AP will host a “Pulitzer Drop,” which features photographs that have won the Pulitzer Prize. Each NFT will come with detailed metadata of the photos, including the time, date, location, equipment, and technical settings used to take the picture.
According to AP, all the funds earned from the NFT sales will return to funding AP journalism. It’s worth noting that even though the NYC-based platform will allow secondary market sales, users will have to pay a 10% fee.
Associated Press Isn’t New to Blockchain Technology
Notably, this isn’t AP’s first time diving into blockchain technology. Back in October 2021, Chainlink Labs and AP formed a partnership that ensured all the data found in its newspaper and broadcaster members would be cryptographically verified.
AP used both Ethereum and EOS blockchains to publicize the presidential election results in 2020. And its history with blockchain goes further back. In 2018, Associated Press collaborated with Civil, a blockchain-based journalism startup. The purpose of the partnership was to help facilitate its plans to seek out content usage and ensure the security of its intellectual property (IP) rights.
